Fruit and vegetables wastes not only have no commercial value, but also require expensive operations of removal and disposal, representing a significant cost for the manufacturers of plant products. However, this material may represent an important resource of commercially worth phyto-molecules endowed with various nutraceutical properties. In the present work, we have verified the possibility of using fruit and vegetable waste materials as a source of bioactive compounds. Several nutraceutical

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... compounds of high economic interest were extracted and quantified from various waste plant materials deriving from the production phase ("first-gamma products") or discarded during the preparation of fresh ready-to-cook or ready-to-eat packaged products ("fourth-gamma products"). Obtained results showed that, despite the precarious and uncontrolled conditions which plant wastes products are subjected, the levels of the examined bioactive compounds are present in relevant amount, also in the parts of the plant that are discarded during the preparation of the ready-to-eat/cook products.